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He Trains My Hands For War Part 2

“This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If
you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making
things worse." Luke 11:23 (Jesus talking on spiritual warfare)

Last week I posted 'He Trains My Hands For War Part 1' which covered two points in relation to God preparing us for our mission and calling;- Responding to negative circumstances with faith instead of fear- Not giving up in the face of adversity.There are 3 more to cover.

- Get rid of that bad attitude.

“Training is used to test your physical ability but also to get rid of bad attitude.” Yup, that’s right. The last two years God has been exposing my bad attitudes toward Him, my faith, other people and myself.

- Control your fear, as in, fear God and not man.

“You're going behind enemy lines, where it’s hostile and people want to kill you. We need people who can control fear.” Ok, before some people loose control about me saying fear God and not man, may be I will write another blog on fearing God, but as much to say this is a biblical standard. Let me summarise that blog in a short sentence from Luke 12:4“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” This is a strange fear to have of a loving God. BUT that’s exactly why I fear and love Him at the same time. He is capable of
killing me and throwing me into Hell, but He has shown me mercy and extravagant
love when I am deserving of the opposite. Back on track. I have had people
threaten me with violence if I talk about Jesus with people in their lives. In
these moments Holy Spirit said to me ‘who will you fear more?’ In other words,
who’s bigger? God, or the man that made the threat? Be sure of your God and
your eternal destination.

Again on controlling fear the S.A.S instructor says “If you don't control fear, that's when it becomes contagious.” This is another big part of being a Christian leader when faced with adverse circumstances. If you’re displaying fear, others will follow into that fear. God has often used negative circumstances to say to me ‘Well, do you believe me or not? Am I God or not? Which is it? Faith or doubt?” Very black and white which sounds harsh, but boy do I long to be a man who trusts Him whole-heartedly! That’s God training.

- Lastly, You don’t always understand the means to the end.

“When you're in the training you don't really understand why they do the things they do to you until you're out in the theatre of battle and then you say 'are yes, that's why they did that.” One of my pastors once said that the devil is just God’s whipping boy! I am often reminded of this during tough times. If God is for me, than who can be against me? No weapon forged against me shall prosper. All of these things say to me that God may not send the enemy to attack me, but He does allow it knowing that He has overcome the enemy and so can we! But do I truly know and believe this? Only one way to find out! And that’s to face adversity and be forced to see my faith in action in preparation for the bigger battles “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

So having read this, how
are you viewing your current circumstances and how are you talking to God about
them?

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Comments

Thanks for the blog post, Jay. I feel I'm going through some intense training which is pushing me to the limits of my faith. I'm down to short, often one word, prayers like "Help!" and "Please!". I'm staring at what feels like an impossible task and wondering whether God will come through. Thanks for reminding me that the question I need to face is, will I trust him? I'm praying that the answer is yes. Be blessed, Shungu.

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